and i used to visit my father when i was at law school when he was living in new york and i was living in cambridge, and he would take us -- he would often take bobby and myself and others out to dinner. and he and bobby would be sitting there talking about existential issues, about the issue of -- because his brother still suffered so dramatically from the assassination of jack kennedy. he would talk about issues like whether he still believed in god. i remember being privy to these conversations, and my father was the kind of person almost like a counselor to kennedy, that he would be willing to be that open with my tower and seek -- my father and seek his advice not just on a policy level, but also on a personal level. >> one of the things we haven't touched on, jon, is that when he was a white house counsel to the president and kind of an in-house historian keeping track, he was also writing film reviews. john was not kidding when he talked about having correspondence with groucho marx. i loved to go to dinner with him if for no ore reason than -- other reason than to drop the name